Collaborative Research: Hydrothermal Fungi in the Guaymas Basin Hydrocarbon Ecosystem

真菌可以从化学物质中获得能量，但消耗其他生物或有机材料以获得碳，据报道，这些真菌来自各种海洋地下样品，包括来自海底数百米以下的样品。 有证据表明，真菌在全球地下海洋沉积物中很活跃，但对它们在海洋地下的作用，特别是它们在深海沉积物中烃类降解中的作用缺乏了解。该团队正在使用高通量培养方法从瓜伊马斯盆地受热液影响和富含碳氢化合物的渗漏沉积物中分离出广泛的环境相关丝状真菌和酵母菌。他们的目的是揭示这些热液沉积物中真菌和细菌的多样性，温度和碳氢化合物成分如何塑造它们的分布，以及真菌如何合作以增强细菌对碳氢化合物的降解。该项目通过世界卫生组织暑期学生研究员方案和伍兹霍尔伙伴关系教育方案接待了六名本科生，为来自弱势群体的有前途的本科生提供机会，从而有助于增加海洋科学的多样性。 高中生参与暑期项目和密集的暑期讲习班。一名博士后，一名研究生和两名研究助理得到支持，国际合作得到加强。 博士后和研究生正在获得宝贵的邮轮经验。在项目结束时，将公开提供关于真菌及其在碳氢化合物生物降解中的作用的电子讲座。真菌分离物及其附带信息将被保存在一个参考培养物库中，以供长期储存，并在整个项目期间提供给任何感兴趣的研究人员。PI正在使用基于培养的高通量方法，从瓜伊马斯盆地受热液影响和富含碳氢化合物的渗漏沉积物中分离广泛的环境相关丝状真菌和酵母菌。目的是揭示它们在原位压力和温度下降解单个烃的能力。文化独立的方法标记基因分析用于表征原位真菌和细菌的多样性，并研究如何温度和碳氢化合物的组成形状真菌群落的组成和分布。传统的和全面的二维气相色谱分析被用来检查的复杂性和微妙的变化，在库存的烃类沉积岩芯，并提供证据，在现场微生物改变个别烃。培养实验用于测试真菌分离物在原位压力和温度下利用不同烃作为唯一或辅助碳源的能力以及它们刺激烃降解细菌对烃的生物降解的能力。在这些培养研究中表达的基因告诉我们真菌和细菌如何结合代谢来增加碳氢化合物的生物降解的总体特异性和程度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Fungi that can derive energy from chemicals, yet consume other organisms or organic material to obtain carbon have been reported from diverse marine subsurface samples, including from hundreds of meters below the seafloor. Evidence exists that Fungi are active in subsurface marine sediments globally, yet there is a dearth of knowledge on their role in the marine subsurface, and specifically on their role(s) in hydrocarbon degradation within deep-sea sediments. This team is isolating a broad collection of environmentally relevant filamentous Fungi and yeasts from hydrothermally-influenced and hydrocarbon-rich seep sediments of Guaymas Basin using high-throughput culture-based approaches. They aim to reveal the diversity of Fungi and Bacteria in these hydrothermal sediments, how temperature and hydrocarbon composition shape their distribution, and how Fungi cooperate to enhance the degradation of hydrocarbons by Bacteria. By hosting six undergraduates through the WHOI Summer Student Fellows program and the Woods Hole Partnership Education Program, the project contributes to increasing diversity in marine science by offering opportunities for promising undergraduates from disadvantaged populations. High school students are involved in summer projects and in intensive summer workshops. One postdoc, a graduate student, and two Research Associates are supported, and international collaborations are strengthened. The postdoc and graduate student are gaining valuable cruise-based experience. An e-lecture on Fungi and their role(s) in biodegradation of hydrocarbons will be made publicly available by the end of the project. Fungal isolates with accompanying information will be secured in a reference culture collection for long-term storage and are available to any interested researcher throughout the project.The PIs are isolating a broad collection of environmentally relevant filamentous Fungi and yeasts from hydrothermally-influenced and hydrocarbon-rich seep sediments of Guaymas Basin using high-throughput culture-based approaches, with the aim to reveal their ability to degrade individual hydrocarbons under in situ pressures and temperatures. Culture independent methods marker gene analyses are used to characterize in situ fungal and bacterial diversity and to examine how temperature and hydrocarbon composition shape fungal community composition and distribution. Traditional and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatographic analyses are used to examine the complexities and subtle changes in inventories of hydrocarbons within sediment cores, and provide evidence for in situ microbial alteration of individual hydrocarbons. Incubation experiments are used to test the ability of fungal isolates to utilize different hydrocarbons as a sole or auxiliary carbon source under in situ pressures and temperatures and their ability to stimulate biodegradation of hydrocarbons by hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. Expressed genes within these incubation studies tell us how Fungi and Bacteria couple metabolisms to increase overall specificity and extent of biodegradation of hydrocarbons.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.